6 minutes agoShareSaveAna FaguyBBC News, Washington DCShareSavePresident Donald Trump has deployed the National Guard to Washington DC and taken control of the city’s police force as he pledges to crack down on crime and homelessness in the nation’s capital.Trump declared a “public safety emergency” on Monday, deploying 800 National Guard troops who will bolster hundreds of federal law enforcement officers who were deployed over the weekend.”It’s becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness,” he told reporters at the White House. The city’s Mayor Muriel Bowser has rejected the president’s claims about crime and while there was a spike in 2023, statistics show it has fallen since then. Violent crime in the city is also at a 30-year low.”I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse,” Trump said during a news conference in which he was flanked by US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who will lead the city’s police force while it is under federal control.”This is liberation day in DC, and we’re going to take our capital back,” he said.Trump said Washington DC had been “taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals” as well as “drugged out maniacs and homeless people”.According to data from the city’s Metropolitan Police Department, homicides dropped by 32 percent between 2023 and 2024 and reached their lowest level since 2019.There has been another substantial drop this year of 12 percent, the data shows.Mayor Bowser, a Democrat, acknowledged there had been a “terrible” spike in crime in 2023, which mirrored a national trend, but she pushed back against any claims of a crimewave in the city.”We are not experiencing a crime spike,” she told MSNBC on Sunday. “The president is very aware of our efforts.”When asked about White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s comment that Washington is more violent than Baghdad, Bowser said “any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false”.Of the 800 National Guard troops who will be activated, between 100-200 will be deployed and supporting law enforcement at any given time, the army said in a statement.As well as that deployment, Trump said he would place the city’s police department under direct federal control using the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.That act was instituted by former President Richard Nixon to allow residents of Washington DC – which is the only US city that is not in any of the 50 states – to elect a city council and a mayor. But it also has a caveat that allows the president to take control of the city’s police force if “special conditions of an emergency nature exist”. If the president intends to take control for longer than 48 hours, they need to provide a written notice to Congress. And even if that notice is provided, they cannot keep control of the police for longer than 30 days.On Sunday, when asked about the possibility of the president taking control of the city’s police department, Mayor Bowser said: “There are very specific things in our law that would allow [that]. None of those conditions exist in our city right now.”She said she was “concerned” about the National Guard enforcing local laws.The mayor’s office has not yet responded to a request for comment from the BBC on Trump’s Monday announcement.As well as crime, Trump also spoke at length about homelessness in Washington DC.”We’re getting rid of the slums,” he said, without giving further details. He said homeless people would be sent elsewhere but did not say where.Trump added that “everything should be perfect” w …
